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SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING

Bamboo Rod Builder Olivia Elia’s Alchemy of Joy

SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING
Olivia Elia uses a toothbrush to lather six bamboo strips with glue before slowly wrapping them together to form the rod’s final hexagonal shape. She hand-twists string around the rod as a clamping mechanism before using a binder with a pulley, weights and a crank to secure the string tightly around the bamboo strips. Photo: Toby Nolan
Words: Amber J. Keyser

Why bamboo?

When I ask, Olivia Elia’s expression softens, becoming almost dreamy. She’s perched on a stool with her knees tucked to her chin in the workshop she shares with her mentor, master rod builder Dave Dozer of Bamboo Pursuits, based in Sisters, OR.

Some anglers fish bamboo for tradition’s sake. They like the historical elegance of a replica rod throwing classic chalk stream flies with silk line on an old Hardy reel. But I don’t think that’s Olivia’s answer. She’s not the tweedy type. A luthier by day—Olivia builds instruments for Preston Thompson Guitars—and a photographer and musician in her spare time, Olivia brings an artist’s sensibilities to everything she does.

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